


Warmth

by HungryLibrary



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Fluff, go be happy forever you cuties, young love deciding to try growing old together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-20
Updated: 2014-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 17:45:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1656989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HungryLibrary/pseuds/HungryLibrary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The former Schnee heiress makes a choice she will never regret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warmth

Weiss curls chilly fingers into the warm callouses of her partner’s palm.

The breath she takes tastes fresh with freedom, cold with all the emptiness opening before her-

But it’s not quite enough to frighten. Not with Ruby steady at her side.

A shift of the wind finds them as they leave the steps and head down the long path on foot. Swirling, it pulls at the white strands of Weiss’s ponytail, covering her in the scent of roses and over-sweetened coffee as it flutters through Ruby’s hair.

A thousand memories come floating to her mind. Soft and quiet times, moments of wildness and silly arguments, small spaces full of too many treasures…

There will more days like them, Weiss knows.

They have forever from now on to make them.

Ruby skips a bit, wound up by the red leaves dancing on the wind. Their hands swing as she turns to catch Weiss’s gaze with a grin- all the worry from way here gone and left at the door they won’t be walking through again.

The reflection in those silver eyes is bright and smiling right back; head high, happier than Weiss has ever seen.

It isn’t a lie. Never in her life has Weiss felt so alive.

So when Ruby tugs them into a run, chasing their shadows on the frosted ground, she picks up her stride and turns it into a race.

They aren’t running away from anything or anyone this time.

It’s all forward momentum and giddiness- how light the world feels when you’ve broken your chains and exchanged them for promise rings-

But some of the frost on the ground as turned to ice and  _of course_  the dolt finds one particularly slippery patch.

Any other day, Weiss might have scolded her. Any other day, she wouldn’t have been so close when Ruby started to tip and slip and fall.

This isn’t like any other day, so Weiss catches her little red fool with a burst of laughter and spins them round on their miniature ice rink, holding tight to the rough wool of Ruby’s sweater and the heat that matches her sudden blush.

They kiss in the middle of the road, in full few of Schnee Manor and anyone who might be looking out one of the hundred windows.

It is wind-chapped and dry, gentle and lingering.

Every clumsy second is familiar but feels so new just then; the hint of sugar on Ruby’s lips, the way her hands thread up Weiss’s shoulders to clasp tight around her collar- the press of her curves through layers of autumn clothing, the weight of her in Weiss’s arms…

The kiss is over as quickly as it sparked. They stay close for a long time afterward anyway, tucked close enough together to share Ruby’s cloak.

Any hint of cold is gone from Weiss’s hands by now.

She can feel the Ruby’s smile, she can feel her own echoed back as she buries her face in the silky cool of Ruby’s hair.

When the words come they are muffled by a mutual reluctance to let go.

“Ready for this?”

The end of the drive is just around the corner, flanked by stone pillars Weiss can see in in her mind when she closes her eyes.

Weiss pictures herself walking through them and hugs Ruby with all her strength.

“… Yes.” She breathes, and then another memory leaps upon her and she smiles. “Absolutely.”

Ruby takes her hand again as they pull away.

Weiss decides today will be a day of indulgences and twines their fingers together.

There’s a renegade stand of black falling across Ruby’s face. Roses are blooming on her cheeks, from the kiss or from cold or both, the blush is a perfect contrast to the pale grey eyes that look at Weiss like she’s someone strong and more than almost perfect-

“Have I ever told you that I love you?”

The smile on Ruby’s lips falters, then springs back with a brilliance that is almost blinding.

“Not in so many words, no…”

“Well.” Heart hammering, Weiss couldn’t have stopped even if she wanted to.

“I do love you. And from now on you should remind me to say as much from time to time, so you don’t get a chance to forget.”

Ruby actually has the audacity to roll her eyes at that, laughing a little in a way that makes Weiss feel simultaneously furious and blessed beyond belief- 

“Weiss, I’m not going to forget that! Not even if I live to be a hundred trillion  _million_ years old.”

“See that you don’t.” Weiss huffs, kissing one red cheek a little bit redder as she guides Ruby off the ice and on down the path.

Around the corner Blake and Yang are waiting with the car.

Around the corner, so many things could happen- good and bad and difficult whichever way one looked at it…

Ruby snuggles close as they take the turn together, linking their arms without a care for the two new spectators, as if this was just another one of their private strolls.

Which, Weiss supposes, it was in a way.

They might have friends to share things with, but from now on they would be walking every step of life side-by-side. It would isolate them from others in a way that walls never could- and it would also be a promise, just between the two of them, to never be alone.

Weiss leans into her partner’s warmth with a faintly misted sigh.

It was worth losing one half of her life to gain part she really needed. 


End file.
